New Point Of View
To get on the Jakarta City Tour Bus is pretty easy – just look for the ‘City Tour’ signage on a bus stop. There are 14 bus stops with this signage across Jakarta’s iconic spots. On the weekend the bus stop at the Istiqlal Mosque also functions as the central stop where you can find an empty bus – this was where my journey started. Since March of 2014 the Jakarta City Tour Bus has been operating on a regular basis from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. except on Sundays, when the tour starts at 12 p.m. On Saturdays, a night tour that takes passengers around Kota Tua (Jakarta’s old town) is available until 11 p.m. The tour bus covers three major routes; Jakarta Historical Places, Modern Jakarta, and Art and Culinary.
Taking the Jakarta City Tour Bus will give you a new insight on the busy city – at least that’s what I experienced. When my tour ended, I could see this city from a different point a view. I can’t help but feeling a deeper love-hate relationship with Jakarta, an affair that has already been manifested throughout my experience of living in this city. “Hate” because Jakarta is quite chaotic, yet this mega city is hard to forget and always makes me want to come back. After all, this is the city where dreamers come to make their dreams come true and realists come to dream.
